Spring of Hope: Heaven's Feathers -Priestess-
by Team Megami
Summary: "This town really is wonderful. I like living here. And I want to do something to make an impact. To make people's lives better... I don't know if I have the courage to do it though." "...Then why don't you continue that dream?" - The first entry in the Heaven's Feathers series, a spin-off of the Spring of Hope universe [Kazuto X Fuuka]
1. Prologue

Name: Spring of Hope: Heaven's Feathers -Priestess-  
Rating: T for Teen (Instances of Language, Sexual Themes)  
Genres: Romance, Humour, Drama

* * *

Prologue  
A Dream

***Beep beep beep beep beep***

(Ugh... Why did I ask for that damn thing in the first place? Oh yeah, so I wouldn't be late again.)

I reached out from under the covers and groped around for the alarm clock on my desk. Finding it to be just out of my reach, I leaned over a little more and found the snooze button. My hair was a mess, I just knew it. Still, I had to sort it out before school started. The first day of school after summer vacation. It's always the worst, but hey, what can you do?

"Hey, bro! You up yet!?" That was my sister yelling outside my door. She's always making sure that I'm up bright and early, even though most of the time I would like nothing more than to sleep in.

"Yeah, I'm up!" I yelled back, getting out of bed. I yawned and stretched, hearing my bones make a satisfying crack. Changing into my school uniform, I grabbed my bag and went to the living room. The entire family was there and some breakfast was left out for my sister and I on the table. Yawning once again, I addressed my parents.

"Morning, Mom. Morning, Dad." I said, sounding tired. I grabbed my breakfast – a piece of toast – and bit into it. Buttered toast is quite tasty, if I say so myself.

"Morning, Kazuto." Mom said cheerfully. She's usually in a good mood, and I would like to keep it that way if at all possible. She's caring and loves her family more than anything, but sometimes she likes to pry into my business more than is comfortable for me.

"Morning, son." Dad said just as cheerfully. He messed with my hair affectionately, making it an even bigger mess than it was already. I brought it back under control and continued eating. My sis was eating her toast as well, though she ate it a little more quickly than I did. She always did have more energy when waking up. Unlike me, who was about as coordinated as someone slipping on ice.

"You looking forward to going back to school?" Dad asked. It took my sleep addled mind a few seconds to register the question.

"Not particularly." I replied, "Most of the subjects are a bore."

"I know you like training with Jun, and your sword skills have improved, but don't neglect your studies." Mom advised me with a stern tone. I nodded, and finished my breakfast. Our morning routine went along smoothly, and we were out the door when it was time to leave. My sis and I usually walk to school together, it gave us time to talk. We didn't usually talk during school; Yukari had her friends to talk to, while I ate lunch alone. I didn't mind that at all.

"So, what are you planning to do when you leave school?" Yukari asked me. I adjusted my bag and sighed.

"I don't really know." I responded, sounding bored, "It's a little early to be deciding that."

"You're going to have to make a decision eventually." She said sternly, sounding very much like our Mom, "You're going through the motions here. Putting in the bare minimum of effort."

"And is there really such a problem with that?" I asked, keeping that same bored tone as before.

"Yes! No brother of mine will be an aimless drifter!"

I didn't really have a response to that. It was true that I didn't really have a goal in life, but what second year student does...? Alright, maybe a few, but that didn't mean that I had to have one as well. I would get by classes and then make my decision when I felt like it. It's not exactly a difficult concept to understand. Everyone expects you to have your entire life decided for you when you're young, telling you that if you don't, then you'll regret it. I don't exactly believe that.

"I'm not drifting." I argued, "I'm just... thinking about it."

"We're supposed to be normal." She sighed, "That involves getting a job when we become adults."

"Oh, like you have a career choice already." I countered sarcastically. I was a little surprised to see that she had an answer to that question.

"As a matter of fact, I do." She announced proudly, "I'm going to follow our Dad and become a scientist."

(...So that's what she wants to do...)

"Do you have any idea about what you want to do?" She asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Maybe I will become an author, a mangaka or something like that." I spouted off ideas at the top of my head, "I don't know. Something I actually like."

"Really? So you won't have any regrets about the way you live your life?"

Once again, I had no response to that. My sis ran off ahead of me, turned back around and waved.

"I'll run on ahead!" She called out to me, "Don't be late again!" I waved back and watched as she ran off around the corner. With the quiet city as my backdrop, I walked towards the school.

This city is quiet... Quite boring really. Nothing of real note, nothing interesting for me. My only real interests were writing and sword fighting. Not a lot regular old classes can teach me, besides the basics. I wake up, go to school and come back home. A regular old life, even for a family like us. A family that has a lot of history and prestige behind it. We can't even flaunt it about as we had been sworn to secrecy. I'll admit it; I have no goal in life. No purpose. It isn't like I hadn't been thinking about it, I just... needed time to think about what I really wanted. It's really tough, thinking about what you want to spend your life doing.

I walked around the corner to the next street on the way to the school. If there was one thing I liked about that street, it was the amount of sakura trees that adorned it. Something about the way the leaves blow in the wind puts my mind at ease. It was my favourite part of going to school and returning home. I walked down this street with a smile on my face. I walked until I heard someone speak.

"Do you have a dream?"

(Huh?)

I had walked past someone without even noticing. Turning back, I saw a girl; around my age, looking down at the ground. This girl; with short teal blue hair and dark brownish eyes, was speaking out loud.

"Is that dream really what you wanted? To make that dream possible, you have to go through so much pain. Is it really worth it? To continue on, knowing that you will probably end up failing. Knowing that it'll end with you regretting what you did, trying to make it come true."

(I don't think she's speaking to me... Is she speaking to herself? To someone in her heart?)

"This town really is wonderful." She spoke shyly, "I like living here. And I want to do something to make an impact. To make people's lives better... I don't know if I have the courage to do it though."

I stared at her as she made her speech, staying silent. It didn't look like she noticed me, so she was probably speaking to herself. I thought about what she said, about having a dream and not having the courage to follow it. She seemed like a meek girl, shy and doesn't really stand out much. She probably didn't speak out much. Heh, listen to me, speaking as if I knew her for a long time. I had a bad habit of making judgement calls without really thinking things through. It was something I was trying to fix.

"...Then why don't you continue that dream?" Even so, I couldn't help but ask her that. That got her attention, and she looked up at me, surprise evident in her expression, "If it's really that important to you, you shouldn't give it up that easily, right?" I asked her, "Fight for it. Let that dream give you the courage and strength you need."

The girl was shocked by my words. I couldn't really tell what she was thinking, but I didn't think it was anything bad or something like that.

"We're going to be late." I told her, "Come on." I walked ahead of her, down the path leading towards the school. Never looking back, not even for a moment.

~Heaven's Feathers~

(Yeah, right... Where do I get off telling her something like that?)

I had made it to school a few minutes before home-room began and was on my way to where I spend the majority of my day. As my hand reached for the handle, I heard several of my classmates voices speak out.

"Takeba? That deadbeat? We shouldn't worry about someone like him!"

"Still, he hasn't decided yet what he wants to be when he leaves school. At least, that's what he said."

"He hasn't even joined any clubs! The guy's aimless, plain and simple! I wouldn't be surprised if he would like nothing more than to sleep his life away; he already does it enough during class!"

I opened the door and entered the classroom. Their ramblings fell silent when they noticed I walked in. I didn't really care much for their opinions. They could think whatever they want about me, as long as they don't bother me themselves. I sat down at my usual desk, walking past those who spoke ill of me. My sis was in the same class as I and walked up to me.

"Those guys are jerks. Just ignore them." She told me. I chuckled dryly at that.

"What do you think I've done for the better part of a year?" I asked sarcastically, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"...Alright." She went back to her own seat and we waited for our home-room teacher to make her appearance. I wondered what kind of entrance she'll make this time. Last time, she managed to be late and slammed into the door in a rush. I wasn't disappointed when she opened the door and ran in carrying a stack of papers.

"Good morning, class- - WHOA!" She ended up falling to the ground, the stack of papers she held flew about leaves kicked in the air. She remained there, face facing the ground for a bit while the class spoke.

"What, again?"

"Hey, Miss Kazama, you dead?"

"How should we get her up this time?"

"Oh, how about we try- -?"

"Nah, the other class already did that to Miss Torumi. Not as funny the second time."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah, let's do it."

"Alright, all together!"

"WAKE UP, DEVIL!"

_That _got her up on her feet immediately. Our home-room teacher, Jun Kazama, didn't particularly liked being called that.

"Don't call me _Devil_!" She yelled. I couldn't help but chuckle lowly under my breath. Always the highlight of my day. Home-room was the best part of the school day for me; didn't have to think much. And my mentor usually has some good jokes to tell us, even if some of them are ridiculous puns. She took roll-call near the end of the period for some unexplainable reason.

"Junpei Iori?" She called out looking down at the sheet in her hands.

"Here."

"Yukari Takeba?"

"Present." Yukari, my little sister, raised her hand.

"Kazuto Takeba?"

"Here." I said, lazily raising my hand before letting it drop.

"Fuuka Yamagishi?"

"H-Here."

(What?)

I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw that same girl I met on the street raise her hand.

(Was she always in this class? I never noticed her before.)

The girl who was called Fuuka Yamagishi looked in my direction and quickly averted her eyes when she saw that I was looking. Not wanting to get in trouble for staring, I looked back to the front of the class. Home-room went by quickly, as did most of my other classes but I found my thoughts going back to that girl.

(Fuuka Yamagishi... I wonder... What kind of dreams does she have?)

* * *

Author's Note

Not something I would normally write, but I got this idea from writing _Spring of Hope_ and thought _why the hell not_? This is the first of several alternate universe fics set in the _Spring of Hope _multi-verse. It will be a very low-action, high on emotion series where Kazuto will have a romance with the girl Social Links that he didn't have a romance with in the main story itself (the exceptions being the Hanged Man, Star, Sun and World Social Links). Well, that's pretty much it. The first girl in the series will be Fuuka, the Priestess Social Link. I might go in order of the Arcana they're in but I might make exceptions if people want. I hope to see you for the next one.


	2. Chapter 1

Spring of Hope: Heaven's Feathers -Priestess-

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Chapter 1  
Lingering Thoughts

"Are you serious?" Yukari asked me as we walked back down the familiar street. I nodded.

"Yeah. It was like a scene out of a novel." I said, describing my first encounter with that girl named Fuuka. I pointed to a particular part of the street, "It was right over there actually. The leaves flew with the wind, she was talking about having a dream and I told her to keep following that dream. I could almost hear the music in my head."

"Have you been playing those novel games again?" She asked with a hint of suspicion.

"Yes, but that's irrelevant." I responded absent mindedly, "Man, first day back and there's already homework to do. What a pain. At least give us a week before getting back into the thick of it."

"Better to get it done sooner rather than later, right?" Yukari shrugged her shoulders, "Besides, you also got training with Jun in the morning so don't slack off and leave it until morning like last time, alright?"

"I still got every question right."

"That's beside the point!"

We turned the corner and opened the gate to our home. It was an old style Japanese house, moderate size with a small dojo near the garden which Jun and I used to train our sword techniques. We went in through the front door and took off our shoes.

"We're home!" I called out, walking through the corridor and into the living room. Mom and Dad were there, watching TV.

"Welcome home." Mom greeted us as we walked through the door, "Anything interesting happen today?"

"No, not particularly..."

A second after I said that, Mom pulled on my ear.

"Ow! What was- -?"

"Your ears were red." She told me with an amused smile, "You. Were. Lying! Something did happen today. So come on, tell me!"

(Sometimes you're an even bigger kid than me.)

"Kaz met a girl today!" Yukari yelled from the kitchen.

"Yukari!" I said through gritted teeth. Trust a sibling to take any opportunity to embarrass you.

"A girl, you say?" Dad asked. He turned away from the TV to look at me with a quizzical expression. I knew I had to get things under control quickly.

"I just ran into someone from my class, that's all." I explained to them, loosening my tie a little. I walked to the door, "I'm going to go do my homework, so don't bother me, OK?"

"Alright, son." Mom nodded her head, "Is fried tofu OK for dinner?"

"Yeah, that's fine." I left the room, closing the door behind me. I walked down the corridors to my room. It was a usually quiet house on a quiet street; not that I didn't like it or anything. I liked it just fine. Gave me plenty of space to think without interruptions. I entered my room and threw my bag onto my bed. I took out my homework and sat down at my desk.

A half hour passed and I already finished English, Science, and Literature Studies. The only thing left was Math, my worst subject. I wasn't exactly invested in the subject, but I still at least gave some effort; even if it wasn't exactly much. I flipped the pencil around in my hands as I struggled with a difficult question. When I spend some time without doing something, my mind tends to wander around with no particular direction in mind. It just so happened that it decided to revisit that morning.

(_"Do you have a dream?_)

The answer to that was _no_. At least, not ones that I can share publicly. But those weren't the kind of dreams she was talking about and I knew it. The dreams she was talking about were those about the future. Those dreams about where you would end up in five years time or something like that. The kind of dreams that few have the courage to pursue. I didn't have those kind of dreams. I used to, when I was younger, but then I grew up.

(Still... Why am I thinking about that?)

Something about what she said struck a chord in me. I shook my head to try to shake those strange feelings off and focus on my homework, though I realised quickly that I wasn't going to get anywhere with that. I finished what I could and put it away in my bag. I decided to lounge about until dinner time. That's usually how my days go. Very simple but I didn't mind that.

"Kazuto! Dinner!" I heard Mom call from down the hall.

"Be right there!" I yelled back while getting up from my bed. Giving my room one last look, I closed the door and went to the living room.

(Just another average day...)

~Heaven's Feathers~

"HAAAAH!" I yelled whilst swinging the wooden sword I held in my hands. The battle cry filled the small dojo me and my opponent were in. My opponent – my mentor, Jun – dodged my strike and struck me on the head. It was fortunate that we were both wearing protective gear or that might have hurt.

"We should leave it at that for today." Jun said, giving one last bonk on the head for good measure, "It's nearly time to get ready for school."

We both removed our protective gear and put away the swords we used. I was a little slow while cleaning up, which Jun was able to notice. She's pretty good at spotting things like that.

"You seem distracted." She said, "Is something the matter?"

"Not really." I replied, putting the gear away now, "Just thinking about something."

"Thinking about what?" She asked, being as nosy as always.

"...Dreams."

"Dreams? That's the last thing I expected out of you." She chuckled lightly, "Then again, you _were_ sleeping during Home-room the week before Summer started. Next time I catch you, you'll get a taste of weaponised chalk!"

"Believe me, Jun, the last thing I want is for civil war to break out in the middle of class." I told her with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. That only served to make her laugh louder.

"Seriously though, you've been struggling in class lately, haven't you?" She asked with a serious tone. Serious Jun means that you should listen to Jun; no exceptions, "Is it lack of drive, or something else?"

"I guess you could call it _lack of drive_. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself once I leave school. People expect me to know what my future is, but the truth is, I just don't know. It's a little unfair to expect me to."

"I completely agree." Jun said, nodding her head, "I didn't know what I wanted to do until my final year of school. I was getting good grades consistently but I just didn't know what to do with my life." She rubbed the back of her neck, "Still, it might be a good idea to at least think about it a little... I overheard some students talking about you, how you hadn't joined any clubs. Why don't you join the Kendo Club? Put your skills to good use there."

"You know why I can't do that."

"Ah... Yes, that's right. Of course."

We went back to the living room where there was some breakfast waiting for us. We usually got up early in the morning to train before school starts; my family appreciates Jun coming over to help me train in my sword fighting. I can't really remember when I picked it up, but I was always interested in swords. Action manga and anime like One Piece and Bleach only furthered my interest in the art of the sword. So when I met Jun in my first year of high school and found out she was a black belt in kendo, I pleaded with her to take me under her wing. She agreed and we've been doing this at least four times a week. We actually became pretty good friends over the course of the year. Even still, this was just a hobby of mine; not something I would take all the way to tournament level or anything like that.

Even if I wanted to do that, I couldn't. For one specific reason. Anyways, we had our breakfast – Curry; a rare thing to have for breakfast here. This made me curious.

"What's the occasion?" I asked Yukari who was at the stove. Something that I would have been worried about at first, but when I saw that Mom was with her, I relaxed a little.

"We have a guest over." Mom said, smiling, "We're also making tomato omelette."

"Whoa, calm down, maestro! It's only breakfast." I said, chuckling a little, "We still have to get to school, you know."

"We know." They said at the same time turning back to the stove. In the end, we had a little leftover, so I decided to take some of each meal to school to have for lunch. It certainly made a change from the usual packed lunches I would buy from the café. Jun and I walked together to school and talked about various subjects. You would think it would be weird to be friends with your teacher, but that's not really the case at all. We got to the school building; Jun went to the teacher's lounge, citing having some business to take care of, while I went to my classroom.

Classes were the same as always; teachers droning on about their subjects and telling us what to write or read – with the occasional smartass comment from the dude beside me. Junpei, his name was. I didn't know him that well, but he seemed like a pretty chill guy from the few times we had spoken. Lunchtime rolled around and I had decided to eat on the roof. Nobody really goes up there, so I usually have peace and quiet.

That day, however, was a little different. One other person had the same idea as me and was eating something on the bench nearest the door. I managed to catch a glimpse of it, and recognised the sweet in their hand.

(Chinsuko? How long has it been since I had one of those?)

Curious, I walked over to the person and sat down beside them. It was that girl I met the day before; Fuuka Yamagishi. She didn't seem to notice my presence, and continued eating. She did manage to catch a glimpse of me, and when she did, she jumped a little from surprise.

"Oh, sorry!" I said quickly, "Did I scare you?"

"N-No, not at all." Fuuka said shyly, "Um... What are you doing here?"

"This is where I normally eat my lunch." I explained, opening the tub I brought with me.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry if I'm intruding." She apologised hastily. I waved a hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it. It's a free roof, after all." I told her, bringing out my chopsticks, "Besides, it can get too quiet up here at times."

As soon as I said that, the rooftop fell silent once more. We continued eating our lunch. I had brought the curry and tomato omelette we had for breakfast. Fuuka had a packed lunch and a bag of Chinsuko. After a while, I felt that someone was glancing in my direction. Seeing how no-one else was on the roof, I could only assume that it was Fuuka. Turning my head slightly in her direction, I could see her taking brief glances at my lunch before returning to her own. I laughed softly before holding out the tub.

"You want some?" I asked, making her jump a little, "It's a little cold so- -"

"Oh, that's fine." She said nervously before taking the tub. She tilted her head a little, "Curry?"

"We had a guest over." I simply said. That was all the info she needed so she nodded her head. Taking out her own chopsticks, she grabbed a bit of the chicken and ate it. She let it sit in her mouth for a while before she swallowed.

"It's good." She said, sounding a little surprised. She handed the tub back to me. I was about to eat the rest of it but Fuuka tapped my shoulder, grabbing my attention. When I turned to look, she was holding out a biscuit.

"Here..." She said softly. Seeing no reason to deny it, I took the biscuit off her hands. Looking it over from different angles, I took a bite out of it. I had forgotten the sweet taste of a Chinsuko and paused for a moment as I savoured it. Something that Fuuka picked up on.

"I-Is something wrong?" She asked, but I shook my head.

"No, nothing is wrong. It's just been a long time since I had one of these, that's all." I said after swallowing what was in my mouth, "My last trip to Okinawa was... three years ago, I believe."

"Y-You can find them at the sweet shop in the town." Fuuka informed me. My eyes widened a little.

"Really?" I let out, a little surprised, "I didn't know that. Might have to pay a visit next time I'm in town."

"...Why are you doing this?" She asked. I guessed that she was referring to the fact that I sat with her and ate lunch. Now that she had brought it up, I realised that I didn't really have a reason. Other than the fact that she was on her own. So I told her that.

"No reason in particular." I said, shrugging my shoulders, "You just looked lonely."

It was silent for a while. Fuuka was thinking my answer over, I could tell. She stood up suddenly, which made me stand up as well on reflex.

"I-I'm... I'm Fuuka Yamagishi." She told me, sounding nervous.

"I heard your name during Home-room." I said, smiling, "Oh, I'm Kazuto Takeba."

"You're Yukari's older brother, aren't you...?"

I nodded my head.

"Unfortunately." I joked, letting out a slight chuckle. I stretched out my hand to her, "It's nice to meet you."

Fuuka hesitantly reached out and took hold of my hand, giving it a brief shake.

"I-It's nice to meet you too, Takeba-san..."


End file.
